


Ruler of Everything

by yellowleader



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Future Fic, Implied Polyworld - Freeform, M/M, Post The End, Ships Implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22532461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowleader/pseuds/yellowleader
Summary: Pat and Paul have gone missing. Matt has a suggestion about the future of the Red Army.
Relationships: Matt/Tord (Eddsworld), Patryck/Paul (Eddsworld), Patryck/Paul/Tord (Eddsworld)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Ruler of Everything

As soon as Paul and Pat went missing, Tord knew something was gravely wrong. It had been a simple mission, their only goal to procure supplies for their current base. No one in this country should have even known about the two of them working for him- only he was wanted by the police! He hadn’t left base in the months since the incident leading to his new cybernetics, so no one could have seen them together, there’s no reason they would be captured by the police or any opposing forces-

Yuu suggested once, right after their disappearance, that perhaps they had deserted. That maybe they’d finally run away together, left the Red Army and their Red Leader, but Tord simply couldn’t believe it. If they wanted to do that, they could have left him to bleed out during the incident, if not killed him when he was weak. They didn’t have to patch him up so gently, or take him back to base to recover. They would not just leave him.

It’s two months after their disappearance that Yanov finds a grainy capture of someone who looks similar to Pat on a stoplight camera. It’s nearly impossible to tell, but Tord finds himself going out to the area to search, despite his subordinates pleading with him that they could go instead, that it’s too dangerous for him to go out in public- especially so near to his last foray out into the world. But he can’t not go. If that is Pat, then… he isn’t captured, or under arrest. He’s moving through the world freely. Why would he not be back?

And so Tord throws on a black coat, pulling the hood up to hold down his hair, and puts on gloves to disguise the mechanical prosthetic, before going out to search. He follows the trail the public cameras had shown the man who looked like Pat traveled down, stopping at the point where no further cameras spotted him. The large apartment building seems like the most likely spot, but he can’t just storm in there and check every apartment.

Still, this fills him with dread. There’s a good chance he’s wrong, after all. That he followed the path of some regular man who just happened to have a similar haircut to one of his favorite subordinates. It’s the most likely option, of course, because… why would Pat be here, of all places? The same city in which Tord lived for years before escaping, only to return for a few days and nearly die in the process?

Why would he have an apartment here, unless he truly was trying to desert with Paul? It makes no sense, and it makes him nauseous with anger and betrayal and fear- but he doesn’t know. Not knowing is the worst part. And so, he takes up a station in the alleyway across the street, hidden by shadows as he watches the building intently.

Pat and Paul don’t leave the building. The people who do leave it, however, are those that Tord would have been glad to never see again. Edd and Tom walk out, both smiling as they chat, voices not carrying enough for him to hear them from across the street. His blood boils- the questions keep piling up. If this is a coincidence, then what kind of coincidence is it? Someone who looks like his disappeared subordinate just happens to take up residence in the apartments that his ‘old friends’ had moved into? Was this an even worse betrayal than he had thought?

It takes a few days of watching- though, of course, he can’t stand there for forever. Instead, he leaves a hidden camera pointed at the front door of the apartment building and watches the feed on his tablet from a nearby hotel in between contact with Yuu to relay orders. This solo mission can’t distract from the main goal, of course.

Tord keeps good track of the inhabitants of the apartments, noting the comings and goings of the landlord, the mailman, the maintenance people, his former roommates. Tom leaves every few days for what seems to be grocery and beer runs. He notes the amount, less than Tom used to drink- is he finally cutting back? Edd goes out every other day or so, though for less clear reasons. Matt leaves once in the days Tord watches, which is the only reason Tord knows he’s there at all.

Finally, on the sixth night , he gets what he’s looking for- a man in a pink hoodie leaving the apartments. He almost missed it, his brain melting from the tedium of watching a doorway in real time, but for just a moment he spots those incredibly recognizable brows and ever-present cigarette in the man’s mouth from under the hood. He sits up on the bed, watching which way the man turns before calling the base.

“Yanov,” he speaks the moment it’s been picked up. “Guide me.” He has him watch the street cameras to track the path the man is taking as Tord tries to catch up. From Yanov’s descriptions, though, the path is… odd. He’s nearly constantly in view of cameras, though his Paul would be much cleverer than that. There also seems to be no real goal, as though he’s… just on a stroll. Unlikely. And then, when Tord actually has a visual on him, the man doesn’t realize he’s being followed. This is… it makes him uneasy.

For once, he acquiesces to Yanov’s advice, not confronting the man in favor of following him for longer. And yet, he just leads Tord right back to the building. Was it truly just a walk…? This feels like a trap.

And all the more so when Paul turns and looks right at him right as he opens the door. The smug smirk on his face seems out of place- he’s never looked at his Red Leader like that. A flush overtakes Tord’s face, though whether of rage or embarrassment of being caught or something else, he’s not sure. He hangs up on Yanov’s analysis of the situation, tossing the earpiece aside and crushing it between his foot and the pavement before following Paul in. He’s never not done the foolish but self-satisfying option- why would he change that now?

Paul is already in the elevator, but it shows the floor it’s going to, and so Tord rushes up the stairs, desperately ignoring the strain it puts on his still-weary lungs. He chokes and gasps for breath when he gets to the right floor, but shoves the stairwell door open anyway. It seems like Paul was waiting for him, because the apartment door he’s going through only shuts when Tord has a good view of it.

He storms right up to the door, grasping the handle and turning it before throwing the door wide open. Paul is taking off his shoes near the doorway, Pat ducking his head from around the corner to get a view of them. “Red Leader!” Despite the circumstances behind their reunion, Pat sounds delighted to see him. His title has never left Pat’s mouth in such a… pleasant tone. Usually, it’s just stern way Pat scolds him for foolishness, or the obedience in accepting orders, or… once, the fear and concern in his voice as Tord pulled himself out of metal wreckage.

It leaves him disoriented, standing in the open doorway and at a loss for words. Paul nods his head in a more natural greeting before heading further in. He turns the corner to where Pat is, and Tord lets the door shut before following.

They stand in the kitchen, with one other face he never would have expected to see here. “Tord!” Matt greets him, beaming. “How have you been?” He approaches him fast enough that it would make Tord flinch, were he not too shocked to move at all. “Looks, uh, like you haven’t been that good,” Matt continues, not even giving him the time to answer before he knocks Tord’s hood back and examines his face.

“Don’t touch the burn, it’s still fairly delicate,” Pat calls from the stove. He has a little apron on over his yellow hoodie. Bacon sizzles in the pan in front of him

“I wasn’t going to!” Matt defends himself, though he probably was going to. Instead, he grabs Tord’s arm- “wrong one,” Paul calls- and then the other one, pulling off the glove to reveal the mechanical one. Tord tries to pull back- which he easily could, with his robotic strength, but he’s not quite used to it and instead pulls back from the still-human shoulder. It doesn’t help him escape Matt’s hold at all.

“What-” Tord’s eyes keep darting between the three of them. “What is going on here? Pat, Paul-”

“Sorry, Red Leader-”

“I told you to stop calling him that in my apartment,” Matt scolds Pat, who immediately nods, though he doesn’t correct himself. Matt turns back to Tord, letting go of his arm. “We need to talk.”

“I need to talk to my men,” he corrects. “My men, who should not be here, and should not be with you, of all people! What is going on? What happened?”

“Well, it’s kind of a long story,” Matt starts to laugh, before Paul cuts him off.

“We were kidnapped, sir,” he answers Tord’s question, finally. Despite the subject matter, he’s calm, picking up a fork from the counter and trying to grab a piece of bacon, Pat smacking it with his spatula to keep it away. It would be a very domestic moment, were these not war criminals who should be committing more war crimes instead!

“You- what?” Tord sputters. “Kidnapped? By- who?” He already knows, he thinks, but is begging to be told otherwise.

Matt raises a hand. “Me!” At the disbelieving look on Tord’s face, he continues. “I grabbed them in the shop while they were buying canned food. Also, that’s gross, you shouldn’t just stock up on canned food-”

“It’s good in case of emergencies!” he protests, though that absolutely isn’t what he should be focusing on right now. “And- how did you capture my men?”

“I just took them home!” It doesn’t seem like he’s going to get more information than that, though at least Paul has the courtesy to look embarrassed. He must have screwed up badly.

Tord sighs, closing his eyes. What has he done to deserve this, other than every illegal or morally lacking or just plain mean act? “And… why?”

“Because I wanted to see you again.” Tord opens his eyes to gauge Matt’s sincerity. “…aw, you don’t need to be all worried! I got my revenge for my face already, remember?” He wraps his hand around Tord’s metal wrist. “Though I guess this isn’t really even…”

“It isn’t,” he says, voice getting a little raspy. “So can I-”

“Nope,” Matt says before he can finish the threat. “Anyway! I gotta talk to you about something, too. The future, I guess!”

“The future.”

“It was one of our adventures without you, but I’m the only one who remembers it anymore because I messed up the timeline a few times.”

“Wait- what do you mean it was one of your adv- how do you-?” Wait. Did someone beat him to his invention of the time machine? Goddamn it. Or… did future Tord totally nail it and went back in time and Matt somehow screwed it up? That sounds far more likely than someone being smarter than him.

“It’s a long story!” Matt pulls him around the kitchen counter to the open living room, and sits on one of the couches with him. Storytime it is, then. “Edd- future Edd- came back from the future to kill Edd- current Edd- because Red Leader- that’s future you- banned all Coca Cola, I guess to piss him off?” Tord chuckles at the thought. “Right?” Matt grins at him. “It’s silly! Just come back and drink past cola, buddy! But nooo, he went for the suicide mission. So you sent Tom- Future Tom, and me- Future me-”

“I get it, Matt, you don’t have to keep clarifying.”

“So you sent me and Tom to stop Edd from killing himself. I dunno if it was for a timeline thing or what. But I- me- current me- got my hands on the time machine! So I went back and remade all of history so I invented and did everything important in all of history! It took… so long. I’m lucky I didn’t age while in other times or I’d be all gross and old now!” He leans over and pulls a mirror out from under the couch and examines himself in it, as if to double check.

It’s a minute before he lowers it and goes on. “So I did that. But being Purple Leader was kind of boring all by myself! I was rich and famous and beautiful and all that- which, really great, honestly, can’t wait until you get it too- or at least two of those, I guess-” Tord is immediately insulted, but Matt talks right over him. “But it was boring! I missed Edd and Tom! And my guards wouldn’t let me go see anyone! So I thought, screaming adoring fans are great and all, but I should share them with the others. So I undid everything, stopped Edd from killing Edd, and everything went right back to normal. Becaaaause… we’re gonna take over the world together!”

Tord is disoriented from all the information. Matt… successfully took over the world. He stopped a future in which Tord won- and also had him and Tom under his heel, goddamn- and then undid it all on… a whim? For the chance to become a goddamn… quartet of rulers? As though Tord would be willing to share the power-

“You’re not listening to me,” Matt says, poking his cheek, a little too close to the edge of the burn scar. “Okay, listen. Are you listening? Good. Okay. Get this. Red Leader.” He points at Tord. “Purple Leader.” Points at himself. “Blue and Green Leader.” Pulls out his phone to show a picture of Tom and Edd asleep on this same couch. “Pink and Yellow Leader?” he lowers his voice and waves at the kitchen.

“Wait, you mean-”

“Weeell, they’re more loyal than Tom’ll be, they’re talented, and they’re nice,” Matt says, voice still a little quiet. “Also I tried to give Paulie an orange hoodie but he insisted on pink, which was super cute on him anyway so I couldn’t say no? And, listen, if they asked, would you really turn them down?”

“Is that- are you saying they let themselves be kidnapped so you could attempt to talk me into promoting them to- to co-leaders? Are you kidding me?!” His voice is wavering all over the place. He’s completely lost the plot.

The men themselves come out holding plates of food. “Did we what, sir?” Pat asks, handing Tord a small pile of bacon. It’s a moment before he accepts.

“Nooo, I didn’t even tell them. I just gave them hoodies.” Paul immediately looks down at his hoodie at Matt’s words, looking suspicious.

“Didn’t tell us what…?” Pat is immediately suspicious as well.

“That I think you guys should be-” Tord cuts him off with a hand over Matt’s mouth.

“No. I want you two to explain this to me. Why, exactly, did you allow yourselves to be captured? And why did you stay until I had to hunt you down?”

They share a look before sitting down on a couch adjacent to Tord and Matt’s. “You tell him,” Paul mutters.

“I don’t want to, you’re the one who knocked over the-”

“It was an accident! If that dog hadn’t barked-!”

“You still did it!”

“Well, I’m not the one who insisted we stay for dinner!”

“That was just because-”

“Pat! Paul!” Tord yells over them to get their attention, and they both go silent, turning to face him. “Just. Give me a quick recap.”

“…Matt had some good points…?” Pat says unsurely. “He knows the future of the Red Army, anyway, he could have sabotaged us anyway, so it seemed simplest to go along with him when the goal was for us to return to you anyway?”

Tord ignores how Pat says return to ‘him’ rather than the army, though his brain tries to latch onto it. “And what did he tell you?”

“That, in this one way, it’d be better to be… friendly instead of another revenge scheme?” Paul shrugs with a nervous smile. “Since you got hurt trying to kill Bl-Tom over a grudge…”

He groans and nibbles on a piece of bacon. It’s delicious. God, canned beans just don’t hit the same way. “So he told you about his red-purple-blue-green plan.”

“Well, he called it the purple-green-red-blue plan, but yes.” Pat takes a bite of his eggs. “It seems a good way to, ah… divide and conquer? The Red Army follows you absolutely, but if we wanted associates of people who refused to work for you, they could follow one of the others instead.”

“My fans, for instance!” Matt beams. “I’ve gotten a huge following online from my new modeling career! And only some of them are bots! So that could be my Purple Army, and then they could work with yours! And make, uh… fuchsia? Fuchsia Army.”

It’s disgusting that they’re all making sense. And he feels very cornered like this- all three of them trying to convince him of something. It’s not an unusual feeling- his subordinates often try to convince him to change his trajectory or stop worsening his wounds by running around- but he doesn’t like to cave in. He doesn’t want to be swayed. But…

“And the thing is? Future Tom and Future Matt really believed in you, you know?” Matt says, munching on his breakfast-for-dinner. “So you must have a pretty good goal or something, or we wouldn’t, right? So you should let us help. Just as teammates instead of being our boss.”

“…have you spoken to Tom or Edd about this?”

“Oh no. Noooo no no. Didn’t even tell them who Paul and Pat were! I ended up telling them they’re my new boyfriends.” Tord bristles at that.

“But it’ll be fine. Because they’ll want it, too. Because Edd wants everyone to be friends again, like we used to be- he hates our new apartments. Also, the cola that’ll come with being rich and powerful? He’ll make a swimming pool out of it! And Tom doesn’t want to be left out ever again. After you came by last time? He comes by just to check that Edd and I aren’t doing anything without him. And me… I wanna be seen again. I want my gorgeous face on TV and on flags and in people’s homes, because they love and worship me!” Matt’s tone is too cheery for the words leaving his lips, but Tord is nearly entranced. Has he ever been this… aware?

Matt tosses his plate aside, it cracking on the ground- Pat huffs off to the side, annoyed his tasty breakfast he cooked is ruined- and pulls Tord’s hands away from his own as well to hold his hands tightly. He swears, he can almost feel the touch in the dulled sensations in his robotic one. “Come on, Tord. For me?” He leans in just a little too close, and Tord leans back.

“I, ah. I could think about it. I should…” But when has he ever not done the foolish but self-satisfying option? And, to have Pat and Paul back, let alone the other three… And, worst case scenario, he can have the others assassinated and just keep his favorites. He’ll send Yanov for some specialized training on that front… “Yes. Yes, we can do that.”

“Yay!” Matt immediately cheers before letting go of Tord’s hand and snatching a piece of bacon from Tord’s plate. He immediately tries to take it back, but Matt bites into it too quickly.

“You fucker-”

Matt goes for another, and Tord knocks the plate off his lap in his push to wrestle with him. Pat and Paul watch silently, already taking out money to bet on the winner. And it’s not like old times. It probably will never be like old times again- things have all changed too much. But it could be better. It could be something great.

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is yellowleader, hmu with any comments/complaints/fic ideas bc i have NO ONE to talk to abt eddsworld


End file.
